skip-zip

They seem to be indicating that Holmes has the flu. If he's going to see limited action in the 2nd half, we better start to run away with this one. Just need to get another scoring spurt early in the 2nd, and keep playing defense.

Ha Ha...Fortunately for us, the 2nd half results showed what was really going on, even if an uneducated BSU basketball fan was still in denial.

I still love watching the footage of the Linhart incident. Particularly watching Geno's expressions of disbelief that his player was being booted. It wasn't a nut shot, but having someone wind up and punch you right in the middle of the gut with your arms extended in the air is pretty nasty too. I believe Geno also presided over some "indefinite suspensions" that ended up being shortened down to very short time frames for some other incidents at Ken+. Don't be surprised if he's out of a job very, very soon anyway. He has a 44-77 record in 4 years, and is only 7-15 this year. And the poor fools at Bradley even had to pay his fine for bailing out of his previous contract, if I recall. He has to be hanging on by a thread at this point, even without this recent incident.

SportsJunkie....I think those who were disappointed in the atmosphere on Tuesday were just as equally disappointed in the lack of enthusiasm when we started taking control of the game also. And for the record, despite our inability to make shots, we actually played a fabulous defensive first half.

But here's the question: For the 2,000 or so diehards who are there every game, should we accept that we are actually behaving just like "Joe Akron", and showing a disinterest in the perceived notoriety or name of the opponent? By comparison: Do you think the typical OSU Honk goes down to Cowlumbus for a basketball game, and acts like he doesn't give a damn if they are beating Northwestern as opposed to Michigan State? I don't know. I'm sure there's some difference. But, I'd expect our "core" fans to be yelling and screaming when we are doing well against any MAC team. I don't believe I personally react any differently. I don't think that the name of the opponent has ever had any bearing on whether I've lost my voice or not over the years.

Yes, I think 3,500 is good for a Tuesday that is not Ken+ or OU. So, the t-shirt giveaway and the salute to Pete obviously made a difference. Maybe just not as much as Keith would have liked.

If I recall his comments correctly, he was upset that people didn't come to honor Pete. I don't believe he thought that they didn't come because it was a sad occasion. But, I think some people on here are blaming the lack of crowd enthusiasm on the pregame ceremony. I think that's really reaching, but it does add to the long list of excuses.

I can see how someone who wasn't there might get that feeling. To me, it was not a funeral-like atmosphere at all. There was a huge ovation that lasted for minutes for his family, and his life was being honored and celebrated, and everyone was smiling and taking pictures. I felt like the unique event, and the Purple jerseys we were all wearing might make the crowd more unified and involved in what was going on last night. Also, to be clear, a lot of people are commenting about how the "lameness" of the crowd was quite noticeable last night. I didn't necessarily see it that way. But I've seen enough lame crowds in that place over the years that I can't distinguish one as being any more lame than another anymore.

I always love to hear about the experiences of someone like you, who is more "student age". It's been way too long (30 years) for me. Go look at the game thread from last night. You're not the only one who noticed that we seemed to have a particularly lame crowd last night. I understand your frustration.....I've seen it way too long.

Just imagine what it would be like if we weren't winning. Just for the sake of discussion, if those college kids you are referring to would have been sitting in a brand new 10k seat arena under the same conditions, watching the same Akron team playing Ball State, would they have been any more interested and involved in what was going on? I think what you are referring to has nothing to do with the arena. Yes, the environment could be better. I think people can only get so much enjoyment out of timeouts filled with UA baton twirlers, a few dance routines, people shooting foul shots for $10 gift cards, and watching blue hairs who remain seated the entire game. But as I've said many times, if we ever started doing anything of any significance on a national level, the people would be there, regardless of their feelings about the arena. And based on what you are saying (uninterested students), I have to say that I am leaning more and more towards favoring a smaller JAR with increased comforts for the 4k fans that will be there every night supporting this team. Make the students fight for their seats, and maybe we will stand a better chance of getting the ones who are interested in a basketball game instead of a place to kick their feet up and play on their phones all night. Edit: This is in response to Balsy's post. I should have copied it. Sorry Zippy5.

+1

However, I still think Steve's best line when he's in the state of disbelief is........HOOOO-LLLY COW !!!!!

Like you've already heard, that program already exists, but it's not used.

That was good Dave. Very good. I'm guessing the ticket exchange could be completed by....maybe....the middle of the 2nd half? Yes, why don't we get proactive and find out what seats are available on a particular evening, and make them available for purchase when we open up the ticket window an hour before game time? Heck, if I am not going to be there, I would rather that the U makes money off of my seat rather than leave it empty. It's not like I own the thing.

I would think you are right. But I can't figure out how this could work logistically. A mad rush of 1,000 people running down to the ticket window right before tipoff to exchange their seats? I don't see that working. And at what point is it "fair" to call them a no-show? What if they are just running late? I can tell you this. I've been to some big arenas that simply allow everyone to move down once they are about 10 min. into the game. We've done this on very rare occasions in the past, but not recently, as I recall. That might be the only thing that can reasonably be done.

You got it. Unfortunately, I feel that most of the "empty seat look" on footage can be attributed to the no-shows in the lower sections. Those tickets are already purchased, for the most part. So, there would be no way to just make them available in time for them to be sold to those arriving at the gate looking for a best available seat. But, I don't know how the ticket exchange works. I've never had to do it. Is it easy? I wish there was a solution.

Then maybe it's good that NE Ohio sports fans can't get a better view of our facility right now, right? Maybe the excellent footage at Ken+ showcases the ridiculous bench seating throughout their gym.

Just a couple of thoughts on this one. 1) As per my previously stated desire to win at least a couple of league road games: One down....One to Go. 2) Based on my perception that WMU really lacked inside strength during the first game in Akron, what a perfect opponent for Big Dog to get something going !! 3) When you beat a team by 20 at home, it shouldn't be a huge surprise that you beat them by 2 on the road, even without 2 key players. This WMU team simply can't match up with us. 4) I'd love to see a few more MAC teams shoot 14 of 27 from the FT line, in their OWN BUILDING. That would surely be a recipe for a couple more road wins. That's almost unbelievable.

Sports Marketing would not exist as a profession if attendance was dictated solely by a teams win/loss record.

I said earlier that I would be satisfied at this point to pull out a couple of road wins. If we do that, and can win at home, we can get to 21 wins by my count, heading into the MAC tournament. I think that would be great for this team after losing their best player. Of course, that also assumes that we can continue our excellent play at home.

Again, my greatest concern is if anyone is leaving at this point because they are just tired of the way things are going. I sure hope that's not the case. Concerning the low number of throws he gets.....there were a number of people, even those on the inside, that were pointing out that defenses just continually ramped up their efforts to eliminate him as a throwing option. Honestly, I never watched his situation closely enough to tell if this was the case or not.

We shot poorly because our shot selection was poor. With the way we ran our offense last night, the game should not have even been that close. It was close because we actually have MUCH BETTER players. It sucks to lose games when your players are much better. The road woes continue. I think at this point, I will be happy if we can just pull out a couple of road wins in our conference between now and March. We should be fortunate that the Q in Cleveland is actually a semi home court.

I hope this isn't any kind of indication about how our kids feel about our program, and its direction. I thought he was damn good, but fairly high draft pick would not be what I would expect.

You're entitled to your opinion on what the impact will be. But, I am assuming I can put you in the category of those who are fine with us being a low level D-1A school, and taking another step towards never being able to do anything about it?

Unfortunately, you're talking about nearly 70 schools that will now be able to separate themselves from everyone else. I'm figuring a cost somewhere in the 10 million dollar a year range for us to keep pace, with the addition of this "stipend". And that's just to keep our already-existing difference from the "power conferences" on equal footing to where it is now.